Tuesday, August 17, 2010

My best friend and I have started the process of locating our high school classmates for our 10-year reunion that we will be planning for next year. (Don't get me started on how this makes me feel old and how my life has not turned out the way I would have expected it to by this point. That's a whole different blog post.)

Surprisingly, I've only found around 100 out of the 285 on Facebook. I suppose I thought we'd find almost everyone there. Here's to happy hunting, yes?

Anyways, one of the ways I've gone about making sure I know who I need to find has been to reference my senior yearbook. I've always been pretty proud of that sucker since I served as the editor that year (ah, memories). What I hadn't thought much about were the notes that people wrote in them. They bring back a ton of warm memories, and I thought I'd share a few of the most interesting, the funniest and the sweetest for your entertainment.

"I am glad that you brought your mom to cross country meets. Just playing. (Well, I mean I like her.)" - he was a good friend, so this wasn't totally ridiculous

"Thanks for everything you've done for the school. (I do notice.) You have made it a better place." - football player that maybe ever said 2 words to me... his note meant a lot

"I can't believe it's over already. It only seems like yesterday I was over here at the lockers. If you haven't figured it out by now, it was you that I liked. :)" - yeah, I had figured it out by then. :)

"Call me when we are old and single and we'll get married, ok?" - always good to have a back-up plan

"Thank you for forgiving my past trespassings against you." - someone who was sweeter to me in high school than in middle school, but that happens... I still consider him a good friend now

"I'm sure one day when I'm a successful attorney I will run across something you have written in a magazine (maybe your own magazine) or a book (that maybe you wrote) and I'll remember the good ole days." - hmm, maybe I should get on this one

"I know I've given you a hard time about the 8th grade band award. But between you and me, you deserved it." - someone who did bring up that he hated that I beat him out for the award for the whole 4 years we were in high school

"Always remember the online chats, Waffle House, church, and that one stolen messed up kiss (what an awkward moment!)" - indeed, but I was glad we could laugh about it

"Call me if you ever need a shoulder to cry on or a ball to kick. Wait - I have 2! Even better." - hahahaha

"I'm glad you have big, beautiful blue eyes that make people stop in their tracks because then they notice me, too!" - :)

"Thank you for 12 years of smiles and and a wonderful and strong friendship. You are a true 'shoulder-companion.'" - someone I'd known since kindergarden

"PS - you will always know that we have kissed!" - guy I had to kiss in the musical we did our senior year

I think there are some real gems in my other yearbooks... in fact, I know some of my favorites are actually in my junior yearbook.

I kind of like pulling them out every now and then and reminiscing a bit. I don't wish to go back in time and relive those days, but at the same time there are way more happy memories than unhappy ones. I spent a lot of time with amazing people. I'm still close to my best friends from those days, and it's the nature of life that you lose touch with a lot of the others. But all of those people will always mean something to me.

And I suppose that's why we have reunions... to get together and remember those days when we spent all day 5 days a week together. To laugh over all the stuff we thought mattered then that we realize now really didn't. To celebrate that we had a season of life together.

3 comments:

That is great. At my high school, yearbooks came out in middle of summer. So no one signed anyone else's (It is not like the first week of school people are going to run around asking people to sign last year's yearbook.) So I don't have those.

To show you the enduring value of yearbooks, my mother is in her 70's. Her highschool yearbooks (all of her kid pictures) burned in a fire in my grandmother's house in 1975.

A couple of years ago, I was looking for a Christmas present for her, and I typed the name of her hometown into eBay, thinking maybe I would find an old map or photo or something. What came up was her senior year yearbook. Of course I bought it. When it arrived, it came with hundreds of signatures and notes to "Stretch".. My mom didn't know the owner (Stretch) very well, but all of the notes to him brought back a flood of memories to her -- 50 years after she had graduated.

Just think -- your work in high school has that enduring quality, and it nice that others remembered and appreciated the effort.

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